Various kinds of silver halide photographic materials have now been commercially sold and various means of processing the materials for image formation thereon are known. In addition thereto, other various technical means are being popularized, including high-vision TV-systems, color-printing systems and color electrophotographic systems. Under the current situation, silver halide color photographic materials, especially color-printing photographic materials, are increasingly required to have an excellent image quality and a high stability of the finished print quality.
In general, printing photographic materials are superior to picture-taking photographic materials in terms of the color reproducibility, sharpness and gradation of the images formed, although the former take a longer time for development than the latter, and further improvement of the photographic characteristics of the photographic materials are being effected. Printing photographic materials which are used in combination with picture-taking photographic materials are good in terms of the producibility in production of prints, for example, these may be processed in a shortened period of time or may be automatically processed, but the image quality of the images formed in the materials (for example, color reproducibility, sharpness, gradation and whiteness) is still insufficient and is therefore required to be improved further. In particular, various practical improvements have been effected in color negative photographic materials. For example, colored couplers, DIR-compounds or DAR-compounds (development accelerator releasing compound) are incorporated; sensitizing dyes are selectively incorporated so as to select the spectral sensitivity distribution and to control the degree of the interlayer effect; dyes are incorporated for the purpose of anti-irradiation or anti-halation; or the thickness of the light-sensitive layer is decreased. Color-printing photographic materials which are used for forming prints from exposed and developed color negative films have also been improved. For example, couplers to be incorporated therein are improved; anti-fading agents or color mixing preventing agents are incorporated; and dyes to be incorporated for the purpose of selecting the spectral sensitivity distribution and for the purpose of anti-irradiation or anti-halation are improved. However, silver halide color photographic materials having a reflective support often have a serious defect in that the image quality is deteriorated by light-scattering of the incident light for exposure.
The main factors causing deterioration of the image quality are considered to be the following three matters.
(1) Elevation of the degree of the whiteness of the reflective (first grade diffusive and reflective: the definition for this term can be seen in "Hand Book of Science of Color (new edition)", edited by Japan Color Society; published by Tokyo University Publication Association; Sept. 10, 1985; Chapter 18, page 626) support causes increase of halation.
(2) Incorporation of high silver chloride emulsions causes not only intensification of the reflective light but also a decrease of the interlayer effect or interimage effect in development to thereby cause deterioration of the sharpness.
(3) Increase of the amount of the dye to be used causes not only an increase of the light absorption in exposure to thereby cause desensitization but also an increase of undesirable color remaining in the processed materials.
If attempts are made to eliminate or overcome the drawbacks by increasing the amount of a conventional water-soluble dye to be added to the photographic materials, such brings about relatively great lowering of the sensitivity and softening of the gradation.
On the other hand, when the time for development is shortened, dyes often remain in the film to lower the degree of the whiteness.
It is known to form an anti-halation layer so as to prevent deterioration of the image quality caused by light-scattering of the incident light. (For example, such is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,882,156, 2,326,057, 3,740,228, 2,839,401 and 3,625,691, JP-B-49-15820 and JP-A-55-33172 and JP-A-59-193447. The terms "JP-A" and "JP-B" as used herein mean "unexamined published Japanese patent application" and "examined Japanese patent publication", respectively.) Picture-taking color photographic materials have been proposed that have a colloidal silver containing anti-halation layer.
However, no color photographic paper is known, which has an anti-halation layer on a reflective support and which has a silver chloride-rich silver chlorobromide emulsion layer (where the mean silver chloride content of the total silver halide is 80 mol % or more) coated thereon and which can be processed by rapid color development within a period of 90 seconds or less.
In this connection, it is known from the example of JP-A-62-32448 that a color-printing photographic material which has a colorant-containing layer (black colloidal silver-containing layer), a red-sensitive emulsion layer comprising tabular silver chlorobromide grains (AgBr content: 85 mol %) having a mean aspect ratio of 5 or more, a silver chlorobromide blue-sensitive layer (AgBr content: 80 mol %) and a silver chlorobromide green-sensitive layer (AgBr content: 70 mol %) formed on a white reflective support has an effectively improved sharpness. However, a printing photographic material containing both colloidal silver and a high silver chloride emulsion as well as a method of processing the material by a rapid color development system is unknown.
The present inventors have found that provision of a colloidal silver-containing anti-halation layer or filter layer in a high silver chloride printing photographic material yields the following problems (1) and (2).
(1) Colloidal silver causes formation of stain. (the stain comprises yellow coloring in the non-exposed area caused by solution physical development in the presence of the colloidal silver.)
(2) Contrast of the gradation in the highlight area (or the gradation of the toe in the characteristic curve) is softened.